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Method and system for routing cells in an ATM switch

  • US 5,367,520 A
  • Filed: 11/25/1992
  • Issued: 11/22/1994
  • Est. Priority Date: 11/25/1992
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A switch for routing information cells having destination addresses from input ports of the switch to output ports of the switch on a cell-by-cell basis, the switch comprising:

  • a plurality of input buffers having outputs for storing the information cells, the input buffers being arranged in one or more groups;

    a central switch fabric including a plurality of crosspoint switch switching planes having inputs and outputs, each of said switching planes having a constant signal delay that is the same for all of the switching planes,a path switch associated with each group of input buffers for selectively connecting the signals appearing on the outputs of the buffers of that group to the inputs of the plurality of switching planes;

    a plurality of contention resolution devices (CRD), one CRD being associated with each of said switching planes for resolving contention among the information cells for access to the outputs of said switching plane on the cell-by-cell basis, each CRD providing indication signals for winning and losing information cells;

    a feedback path means for communicating win/lose signals from the CRDs back to the plurality of input buffers from which the winning and losing information cells originated, said feedback path means maintaining routing correspondence between input buffers and switching planes for both the signals traveling in a forward direction and the associated win/lose contention signals traveling in a reverse direction; and

    an output buffered switch including a plurality of output buffers arranged in one or more groups for receiving the information cells from the outputs of the plurality of switching planes for routing the information cells to the proper output port of the switch in accordance with destination addresses of the information cells.

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